Sunday, July 7, 2024

How Saudi media group MBC's Shahid has become the biggest streaming service in MENA with a 22% share, ahead of Starz Play Arabia at 18% and Netflix at 17% (Financial Times)

Financial Times:
How Saudi media group MBC's Shahid has become the biggest streaming service in MENA with a 22% share, ahead of Starz Play Arabia at 18% and Netflix at 17%  —  Wide range of Arabic-language shows and films helps media group compete with Netflix  —  Media group MBC is competing hard with Netflix …



A study of GPT-3.5-based ChatGPT's ability to solve 728 coding problems: fairly good at solving problems that existed before 2021, but struggles with newer ones (Michelle Hampson/IEEE Spectrum)

Michelle Hampson / IEEE Spectrum:
A study of GPT-3.5-based ChatGPT's ability to solve 728 coding problems: fairly good at solving problems that existed before 2021, but struggles with newer ones  —  This article is part of our exclusive IEEE Journal Watch series in partnership with IEEE Xplore.



Sources: Apple Watch Series 10 will be thinner and have bigger screens; main Siri upgrade will be part of iOS 18.4, with a dev beta in Jan. and a spring release (Mark Gurman/Bloomberg)

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple Watch Series 10 will be thinner and have bigger screens; main Siri upgrade will be part of iOS 18.4, with a dev beta in Jan. and a spring release  —  As the Apple Watch approaches its 10th birthday, the company is preparing a big update.  Also: AirPods with cameras …



A look at Apate, a conversational bot developed by Macquarie University's Cyber Security Hub in Australia to keep scam callers on the line while collecting data (Tory Shepherd/The Guardian)

Tory Shepherd / The Guardian:
A look at Apate, a conversational bot developed by Macquarie University's Cyber Security Hub in Australia to keep scam callers on the line while collecting data  —  New scambaiting AI technology Apate aims to keep scammers on the line while collecting data that could help disrupt their business model



Saturday, July 6, 2024

Apple says it asked Epic to fix the buttons in a future version of the Epic Games Store submitted for review; Epic CEO Tim Sweeney says Epic will "fight this" (Malcolm Owen/AppleInsider)

Malcolm Owen / AppleInsider:
Apple says it asked Epic to fix the buttons in a future version of the Epic Games Store submitted for review; Epic CEO Tim Sweeney says Epic will “fight this”  —  Mere hours after reports circulated that Apple had declined to approve the Epic Games Store for iOS in the EU …



As Glaze, a free tool to help artists prevent AI from copying their style, sees an "explosion in demand", researchers say its protections can be bypassed (Ashley Belanger/Ars Technica)

Ashley Belanger / Ars Technica:
As Glaze, a free tool to help artists prevent AI from copying their style, sees an “explosion in demand”, researchers say its protections can be bypassed  —  Artists must wait weeks for Glaze defense against AI scraping amid TOS updates.  —  For many artists, it's a precarious time to post art online.



Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi talks about reuniting with Square Enix to bring his company Mistwalker's Apple Arcade RPG Fantasian to PC and consoles (Jason Schreier/Bloomberg)

Jason Schreier / Bloomberg:
Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi talks about reuniting with Square Enix to bring his company Mistwalker's Apple Arcade RPG Fantasian to PC and consoles  —  More than two decades ago, video-game designer Hironobu Sakaguchi parted ways with the company now called Square Enix Holding Co. At the time, it was an unexpected move.



A look at Meta's struggles to attract influencers to Threads, due to the platform's focus on text and its lack of a clear purpose for users (Taylor Lorenz/Washington Post)

Taylor Lorenz / Washington Post:
A look at Meta's struggles to attract influencers to Threads, due to the platform's focus on text and its lack of a clear purpose for users  —  Threads launched a year ago Friday but has a fraction of the users of Meta's other platforms.  Content creators say they don't consider it important.



Friday, July 5, 2024

TRM: cryptocurrency stolen through hacks more than doubled to $1.38N in H1 2024 from a year earlier; five large attacks accounted for 70% of the crypto stolen (Benjamin Taubman/Bloomberg)

Benjamin Taubman / Bloomberg:
TRM: cryptocurrency stolen through hacks more than doubled to $1.38N in H1 2024 from a year earlier; five large attacks accounted for 70% of the crypto stolen  —  - Attack on Japanese exchange DMM Bitcoin was biggest in 2024  — Amount is still below the record 2022 level, TRM says



Epic says Apple is impeding its attempts to set up a games store on iPhones and iPads in Europe and that it has shared its concerns with the European Commission (Reuters)

Reuters:
Epic says Apple is impeding its attempts to set up a games store on iPhones and iPads in Europe and that it has shared its concerns with the European Commission  —  “Fortnite” maker Epic Games said on Friday Apple was impeding its attempts to set up a games store on iPhones and iPads in Europe …



The EC asks Amazon to provide more information on its compliance with DSA provisions concerning the transparency of Amazon's recommender systems by July 26 (Benoit Van Overstraeten/Reuters)

Benoit Van Overstraeten / Reuters:
The EC asks Amazon to provide more information on its compliance with DSA provisions concerning the transparency of Amazon's recommender systems by July 26  —  The European Commission said on Friday it had requesting Amazon (AMZN.O) provide more information on the measures the U.S. e-commerce giant …



YouTube releases an updated Erase Song tool for creators that uses AI to detect and remove any copyrighted music from their videos without impacting other audio (Ivan Mehta/TechCrunch)

Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
YouTube releases an updated Erase Song tool for creators that uses AI to detect and remove any copyrighted music from their videos without impacting other audio  —  On July 4, YouTube released an updated eraser tool for creators so they can easily remove any copyrighted music …



Thursday, July 4, 2024

Evan Blass leaks Samsung's entire specs sheets and marketing materials for the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Galaxy Z Flip 6, expected at its Unpacked event on July 10 (Sean Hollister/The Verge)

Sean Hollister / The Verge:
Evan Blass leaks Samsung's entire specs sheets and marketing materials for the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Galaxy Z Flip 6, expected at its Unpacked event on July 10  —  We're only one week away from Samsung's next Unpacked event on July 10th, where we're expecting the company's Galaxy Z Fold 6 …



A look at the inaugural Esports World Cup, a multi-genre tournament in Riyadh funded by Saudi Arabia, featuring 1,500+ gamers and a record $60M+ prize pool (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg:
A look at the inaugural Esports World Cup, a multi-genre tournament in Riyadh funded by Saudi Arabia, featuring 1,500+ gamers and a record $60M+ prize pool  —  - Esports World Cup has record prize pool of $60 million  — Crown Prince MBS wants to build esports capital in Riyadh



A look at a16z's Crypto Startup Accelerator, a Y Combinator-style program that provides $500K in funding and 10 weeks of coaching, most recently in London (Joel Khalili/Wired)

Joel Khalili / Wired:
A look at a16z's Crypto Startup Accelerator, a Y Combinator-style program that provides $500K in funding and 10 weeks of coaching, most recently in London  —  Andreessen Horowitz is betting the house on crypto.  (Yes, really.)  This spring, the VC firm schooled a new batch of founders …



A look at some themes at this year's Hill and Valley Forum: embracing government-led industrial policy to onshore manufacturing, AI's unpopularity, and more (Newcomer)

Newcomer : A look at some themes at this year's Hill and Valley Forum: embracing government-led industrial policy to onshore manufact...